Thought William Tell was just a guy who shot apples off his son’s head? This old-fashioned Euro epic will set you straight. Here, the legendary medieval crossbowman gets placed in an action-packed historical context, showing that skewering Granny Smiths was just one of the daring feats he pulled off in the cantons of 14th century Switzerland.
Played by The Square’s Claes Bang, a charismatic actor with a hint of devilry, Tell is a somewhat solemn family man, nursing old traumas dating back to his time on the Crusades. He’d rather be left in peace to hunt in picturesque Alpine valleys with his son (Tobias Jowett), while his Middle-eastern wife (Extraction’s Golshifteh Farahani) tends the hearth.
But enter eye-patched Hapsburg tyrant Albert – Sir Ben Kingsley in one of those three-day’s-work-and-a-fat-paycheck roles – with dastardly plans for his corner of the mountains. An army of henchmen, led by Connor Swindells’ tax-collecting tyrant, Albrecht Gessler, is soon provoking the peace-loving Swiss to fury with their violent pillaging.
In case you hadn’t guessed, Will Tell is basically Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves at altitude, though not as fun as that sounds. The crossbowman’s band of not-so-merry men (and women) includes Rafe Spall and Emily Beecham’s aristocrats, but it’s not until that famous apple scene – staged in the second half here – that Tell’s wavering gives away to full resistance.
The acting is a bubbling fondue of clashing styles
Writer-director Nick Hamm (Killing Bono), a former resident director at the RSC, strains for Shakespearean lyricism in a screenplay that expands on the legends of Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 play about Tell. He rarely allows a line of dialogue to pass without throwing in a ‘thou’ or a ‘thy’, and occasionally drops a real clunker (‘Kneel, or to prison you shall go!’ barks one Austrian soldier).
The acting is a bubbling fondue of clashing styles. Swindells cheeses it up as hissable villain Gessler, another real-life figure, while Bang plays it all as straight as an arrow – barring an unplaceable accent. His troubled Crusades backstory is a snooze.
But with its golden mountain vistas – the Italian Tyrol doubles as the Swiss Alps – and some sweeping Lord of the Rings-like camerawork, Will Tell does have a satisfying old-school sensibility. The action sequences are staged with verve, too. (Anyone familiar with medieval crossbows might expect long delays for reloads, but Hamm finds some credible workarounds.)
Even so, an ending that sets up a possible Will Tell sequel feels ambitious for a movie that doesn’t loiter long in the mind. What’s the opposite of low-hanging fruit?
In UK and Ireland cinemas Jan 17.